Greetings, fellow ’70s. Chalk up another accolade for Jim Nachtwey, who was recently awarded the Dresden (Germany) International Peace Prize. According to a press release, the prize “recognizes extraordinary services by outstanding people who above all act preventively to help prevent escalations of violence,” and is given on the anniversary of Dresden’s destruction during World War II. In presenting the award, Oscar-nominated film director Wim Wenders remarked, “If a war photographer is awarded a Peace Prize, furthermore in a city once devastated by a war, then he must be a very special person and a truly extraordinary photographer.” Wim, you got that right! The award ceremony coincided with the opening of an exhibit of Jim’s photographs in the Military History Museum in Dresden. Incidentally, one of the previous winners of this prize is a guy named Mikhail Gorbachev.


New Hampshire residents need not fear that hanging chads will decide future elections in the Granite State. Gov. John Lynch has appointed Terry Shumaker to that state’s ballot law commission, a five-member body that decides election disputes and hears appeals from recounts. Terry is an attorney and mediator specializing in employment law with the firm of Bernstein Shur in Concord.


After completing nearly 30 years of ear surgery and related ear-nose-throat healthcare at the Cleveland (Ohio) Clinic, Gordon Hughes has begun a second career at the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders, a branch of the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland. He is in charge of clinical trials, i.e. prospective human research, which includes active intervention (treatment) related to hearing, balance, taste, smell, voice, speech or language. Washington, D.C., has always been his favorite city and is close to his family home in southern Maryland.


I read with some interest a recent article in Dartmouth Life concerning the resurgence of ROTC on campus. At the time it was written there were 16 students in the program, including six members of the class of 2015. The article notes that, “an average of one or two seniors are commissioned as second lieutenants in the U.S. Army annually.” This caused me to do a little research on our class and I discovered that 74 of us, roughly 10 percent of those graduating, were commissioned through ROTC on June 13, 1970. The number would have been greater had not a few of you drawn high numbers in the initial draft lottery in December 1969. Of those commissioned, just under half, including yours truly, became Navy ensigns. To the best of my knowledge three classmates went on to serve 20 or more years on active duty, all of them naval officers: Gary Miller, John Morse and Chris Nintzel. If I missed anyone I’m sure I’ll hear about it.


That’s all folks. Please keep those cards, letters and e-mails coming.


—Bill Wilson, 304 Highlands Bluffs Drive, Cary, NC 27518; wilson8689@aol.com